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Sheriff’s Office Seeks Two Sex Offenders

BERLIN — The Worcester County Sheriff’s Office this week has issued arrest warrants for two local men for violations of Maryland sex offender laws.

The Sheriff’s Office is seeking Delmar James Cubbage, 20, of Bishopville, and Edward Lee Robbins, 28, of Ocean City, for violating the terms of their sex offender registration requirements. Both men are sought for failing to re-register as sex offenders within three days of moving to a new location.

Anyone with information about Cubbage and/or Robbins is urged to contact the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office at 410-632-1111. Tipsters may also call Maryland Crime Solvers at 410-548-1776.

Coastal Highway Donnybrook

OCEAN CITY — Two men were arrested on disorderly conduct and affray charges this week after an early morning fight on Coastal Highway on July 4.

Shortly after 3 a.m. on July 4, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer on patrol heading north on Coastal Highway in the area of 49th Street observed two males fighting on the sidewalk with a large crowd gathered around. According to police reports, the two suspects were grappling and wrestling on the ground with a group of 12-15 people surrounding them. Both males were allegedly throwing punches while surrounded by the group of people yelling and shouting.

According to police reports, several of the witnesses appeared to be disturbed by the scene and moved away and huddled together in groups, while others were pointing and had their mouths open in disgust. OCPD officers broke up the fight and arrested the two combatants, identified as Jason Johnson, 28, of Cockeysville, and Jonathan League, 22, of Pikesville, charging both with disorderly conduct and affray.

Three Arrested For Beat Down

OCEAN CITY — Three Washington, D.C. area men were arrested on first-degree assault and other charges this week after allegedly kicking and stomping a man in the 45th Street area in Ocean City.

Shortly before 3 a.m. on July 4, OCPD responded to the 45th Street area for a reported fight in progress. Upon arrival, OCPD officers met with a severely injured victim suffering severe wounds to his face, head and neck. The victim was unresponsive to the officers’ questions because of his injuries and was eventually transported to an area hospital.

Police met with the victim’s wife who said her husband had been in a fight with several Hispanic males. During the fight, the victim was pushed to the ground and the suspects repeatedly kicked him in the head, face and neck. The victim’s wife said the beating went on for several minutes before the suspects heard police sirens and fled the area.

The victim’s wife and several witnesses provided police with a description of the suspects and the Acura sedan in which they were traveling. The Acura was spotted a short time later in the 42nd Street area, and when the officers stopped and approached the vehicle, two of the suspects got out and fled on foot despite orders from police to stop.

However, three suspects remained in the vehicle and were detained until the victim’s wife and other witnesses were brought to the scene to identify them as the attackers.

The three suspects, identified as Oscar Segovia, 22, of Hyattsville, Jonathan Lopez, 20, of Bladensburg, and Henry Sorto, 23, of Beltsville, were each arrested and charged with first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct for “endangering the victim’s life by kicking him in the head and neck,” according to police reports.

18 Months For Negligent Homicide

SNOW HILL — A Pocomoke man who pleaded guilty in April to negligent homicide while impaired was sentenced last week to three years in jail, half of which was then suspended.

Around 9:15 p.m. on Sept. 10, 2010, Pocomoke Police responded to the parking lot of a tractor supply business for a report of a victim thrown from a moving motor vehicle. Police interviewed witnesses and learned the victim had been hanging from the door of a vehicle driven by Jesse James Mason, 24, while it was in motion.

According to police reports, Mason had been consuming alcoholic beverages throughout the evening and the victim was attempting to stop Mason from driving away. However, Mason accelerated rapidly from the parking lot with the victim still clinging to the door. The victim was eventually thrown from the vehicle, causing the fatal injuries.

Due to the nature and circumstances of the incident, the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation (WCBI) was called in to conduct an investigation. As a result, Mason was charged with negligent homicide by automobile while impaired, negligent automobile homicide while under the influence of alcohol, negligent manslaughter by automobile, reckless endangerment and other charges related to driving under the influence.

In April, Mason pleaded guilty to negligent homicide by motor vehicle while impaired and a pre-sentence investigation was ordered. Last week, Mason was sentenced to three years in jail, all but 18 months, or half, of which was then suspended. He was also given credit for 88 days spent in jail pending sentencing and was placed on supervised probation for three years upon his release.

Beach Confrontation Ends In Arrest

OCEAN CITY — A Pennsylvania man was arrested for allegedly assaulting an OCPD officer and a slew of other charges last weekend after an early morning conflict with resort police on the beach in the downtown area.

Around 3:15 a.m. last Sunday, OCPD officers were on patrol on the Boardwalk near N. Division Street when they observed a man on the beach in violation of a local ordinance. The officers approached the suspect, later identified as Darryl Pierce, 26, of Harrisburg, Pa., who told police he was unaware of the ordinance governing the hours of the beach and said he would leave.

An OCPD officer then asked the suspect if he had any illegal drugs or weapons the police should know about, to which he replied no. The officer than asked Pierce for identification, but the suspect said he wasn’t carrying any and instead gave police a verbal identification, identifying himself as Lorne Mundy. The officer told “Mundy” he was free to go and started walking back to his bicycle when he decided to question the suspect further.

Pierce consented to a search of his person for illegal drugs or weapons and held his arms out to the side to accommodate the search, according to police reports. The search turned up a small baggie of marijuana and Pierce was asked to sit on the wooden walkway on the beach. However, Pierce then broke free of the officer’s grip and bolted toward the Boardwalk.

The officer called for the suspect to stop, but Pierce kept running. Two other OCPD officers responded to the scene and attempted to corral Pierce, but he shoved one of the officers to the ground, causing the officer to slide across the cement portion of the Boardwalk, and kept running. The original officer continued in pursuit and noted in his report Pierce appeared to be slowing and running out of energy.

The officer continued to pursue Pierce, leaping a picket fence at one point, until the suspect gave up the chase and laid face down on the street near 1st Street and Baltimore Ave. The officer attempted to handcuff Pierce, but he resisted, resulting in additional charges. Once under arrest, the suspect continued to identify himself as Lorne Mundy, but a secondary search revealed his true identity as Pierce. Pierce was charged with second-degree assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, false statement to police and possession of marijuana and paraphernalia charges.

Axe Handle Beating Alleged

OCEAN CITY — A Crownsville, Md. man was arrested on first- and second-degree assault charges after allegedly attacking a man with a hard, plastic axe or sledgehammer handle in a downtown parking lot early Saturday morning.

Around 3 a.m. last Saturday, an OCPD officer responded to the municipal parking lot on Worcester Street for a reported assault. Upon arrival, the officer observed a man, later identified as Steven Ray Turek, 49, of Crownsville, holding a yellow, hard plastic axe or sledgehammer handle in his hands. Turek was standing near another man who was bleeding from the right side of his face and his lip along with other injuries. Also present was a female.

The officer separated the two men and talked first to the bleeding individual, who told him he had witnessed Turek and the woman in a heated verbal dispute. When the victim approached the couple in an attempt to defuse the argument, Turek allegedly turned his attention on the Good Samaritan, went to his vehicle nearby and got out the large axe handle.

According to the victim, Turek approached him with the axe handle and swung it wildly at him several times, striking him once in the face. After the victim was struck once, he was able to get a hand on the weapon and the two men wrestled to the ground in a fight over the axe handle. While police were talking to the victim, they were approached by an Ocean City municipal bus driver, who corroborated the victim’s account of the events.

During a subsequent interview with the suspect, Turek admitted he was having an argument with his girlfriend, but when the victim interceded, Turek thought he was trying to fight him and retrieved the weapon. Turek said he never hit the victim with the axe handle because the victim got his hand on the weapon and the two men wrestled on the ground for possession of it.

Nonetheless, based on the account provided by the victim, as well as the bus driver, Turek was arrested and charged with first- and second-degree assault and carrying a deadly weapon with intent to injure.

Pants Size Nabs Pot Dealer

OCEAN CITY — Two alleged marijuana dealers were busted last weekend while sitting in their vehicle on a downtown street counting money and smoking weed.

Around 9:30 a.m. last Saturday, an OCPD officer on bicycle patrol in the area of Somerset Street observed two men sitting in a parked vehicle while the passenger, later identified as Rommero Smith, 22, of Washington, D.C., counted a large sum of money. According to police reports, Smith was counting what appeared to be hundreds of dollars.

The officer pulled around to get a better vantage point for the suspicious activity, and as he approached the driver’s side door, he detected the strong odor of freshly burned marijuana. The officer called for back-up and got the suspects to exit the vehicle, placing them under arrest for suspicion of possession of marijuana.

The driver, identified as Antonio Belton, 22, of Waldorf, Md., was arrested as the officer began a search of the vehicle. The officer found marijuana in several different containers and wrappings throughout the vehicle, according to police reports. For example, on the front passenger seat was a drawstring bag containing nine smaller baggies of marijuana and a large sum of currency.

Smith was then searched and was found to be in possession of three large wads of cash, each one totaling $1,000, for a total of $3,000 held together with a rubber band. Smith denied the drawstring bag containing the marijuana was his, but the officer found a pair of size 44 shorts in the bag, which is Smith’s size. The waist sizes of the other occupants in the vehicle were all 34 or less, according to police reports. Smith was charged with possession of marijuana and paraphernalia and possession with intent to distribute, while Belton was charged with possession of marijuana.

Appeal Filed In Murder Conviction

SNOW HILL — A Pennsylvania man sentenced in June to 25 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder for repeatedly running over his elderly mother with his truck on a rural road in Worcester County last August has filed an appeal seeking to overturn the conviction.

Steven Frederick Molin, 58, of Darby, Pa., last Friday was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty by a Worcester County jury in March of second-degree murder in the death of his mother, Emily Belle Molin, 85, along a dark, rural road in northern Worcester County late last August. Late last month, Molin, through his attorney filed an appeal with the Maryland Court of Special Appeals seeking to overturn the conviction, and the 25-year sentence.

From the beginning, Steven Molin did not deny running over his mother as many as three times, but claimed the incident was an accident, caused in part by a faulty passenger side door on the 2008 Chevy work truck damaged in a different accident earlier in the day. However, a Worcester County Sheriff’s Office accident reconstructionist, after reviewing the physical evidence and interviewing Molin, determined the victim had been run over three times despite ample opportunity for the suspect to avoid hitting her after the first collision.

Driver Strikes Overpass

BERLIN — A Delaware man was flown to PRMC in Salisbury on Tuesday after crashing his vehicle into an overpass at Routes 113 and 90 near Berlin.

Around 10:46 a.m. on Tuesday, Maryland State Police troopers responded to a reported single vehicle accident on Route 113 near Route 90. Upon arrival, MSP troopers discovered a Toyota Camry overturned and leaning up against the bridge abutment of an overpass. The investigation revealed the sole occupant of the vehicle, driver Justin Clay Lloyd, 20, of New Castle, Del., failed to pay attention, lost control and flipped the Camry into the bridge abutment.

Lloyd was flown by Maryland State Police helicopter to PRMC in Salisbury for treatment of injuries sustained in the crash. Route 113 north of Berlin was closed for about 20 minutes to accommodate the landing of the MSP helicopter, while the slow lane and shoulder of Route 113 was closed for about an hour while State Highway Administration inspectors checked out the damage to the bridge structure. The bridge was deemed safe and all lanes of traffic were reopened a short time later.

Charges are pending against Lloyd and alcohol may have been a factor, according to police reports. The investigation is ongoing.